


Mean Things People Say and D.O in High School

by BeardedGingers (ACatWhoWrites)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cross Over, M/M, Mean Girls!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-01-20 13:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 5,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1512755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACatWhoWrites/pseuds/BeardedGingers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Public high school isn't at all what Lu Han expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Biology Got Interesting

**Author's Note:**

> [A friend](http://archiveofourown.org/users/optimusfine/pseuds/optimusfine) gives me really good ideas for Mean Girls!EXO fic. I keyboard smash some drivel on Twitter and collect it here.
> 
> These aren't linear "chapters," meaning they won't necessarily be in order.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things learned in science class: Intimate details about your lab partner's bathroom breaks.

The students swabbed the inside of their cheeks and wiped the glass slides. Slipping the glass beneath the microscope, everyone began murmuring to one another. 

Paired with Lu Han, Jongdae raised his hand. "There's something moving on mine."

Lu Han frowned and peered at the slide, stifling a gasp as the teacher made his way over.

"That," the teacher declared, replacing his glasses on his face, "is a sperm cell."

From somewhere in back, a voice that sounded uncannily like Chanyeol's coughed "Slut."


	2. "On Wednesdays, we wear pink."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Han is in crisis.

Lu Han was in crisis. Fashion crisis, even, which he never thought he would be in.

"You GUYS!" he whined, staring in dismay at his closet. Hooded sweatshirts, jeans, sweatpants, and his soccer uniforms mocked him silently. "I can't do this. They wear HOT PANTS on Thursdays. Hot pants!" He shut his closet and leaned against the door. "I don't have hot pants!"

Chanyeol raised his hand and spoke around his food. "I do."

"He does," Minseok affirmed.

"Of course he does. . ."

"What? They make my legs look great."

"They do," Minseok added with a steady nod.

Lu Han couldn't imagine it. Didn't want to imagine it. Didn't even want to imagine himself in anything so tight, but if he was going to infiltrate the plastics, sacrifices had to be made. 

"Could I borrow them?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is taken right from [Mean Girls](www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuelCsZ30pU).
> 
>  


	3. Cafeteria Alphabet Soup is Seriously Lacking in the Important Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being Chanyeol’s best friend gives Minseok special privilege.

Even over the chattering of the crowded lunch room, the baleful laughter of the plastics--sans Yixing, who was picking out noodles from his alphabet macaroni and cheese and trying to spell his name--still carried over to where Minseok sat. 

Chanyeol was over by the "fake plastics," the awkward trio of athletes who looked like they could be in a gang but were actually sweethearts, Chanyeol assured. They just had the misfortune of perpetual bitchface, Chanyeol cooed. Their hot bods totally made up for it, Chanyeol insisted.

While Minseok kept a watchful eye on his friend, he couldn't help but get an earful of Baekhyun's running commentary to Lu Han:

"He's always after SOMEONE. Always. As long as it has a dick and breathes, Chanyeol is after it."

Minseok shredded his sandwich in silence, however, used to the gossip and more than willing to let it roll off his shoulders.

Lu Han didn't have much to say, letting his new friends twitter and tittle-tattle while he pretended to look interested and involved.

Between Yixing and Jongdae, Kyungsoo stage-whispered "I heard he even hit on Mr Choi."

"The PE teacher?" Baekhyun gaped at him, kohled eyes wide.

Kyungsoo nodded slowly, _Oh my God, right?_ heavily implied.

"He is hot, though," Jongdae commented.

"But PE? Seriously, Jongdae."

Jongdae shrugged and slurped his smoothie noisily.

Yixing couldn't find a X in his pasta. Y I I N G sat on his napkin.

Baekhyun snorted and flipped his hair across his forehead. "I think it's safe to say Park Chanyeol is just too gay to function."

Minseok slammed the remains of his sandwich onto the table. 

That flibbertigibbet went too far.

Fist clenched around bits of wheat bread and lettuce, Minseok stalked to the plastics' table. "Only _I_ get to call him that, you slut-faced cock vulture."

Baekhyun had the bad luck to turn right into Minseok's fist.

Minseok had the satisfaction of punching Baekhyun right on the schnoz.

Even being plastic didn't save Baekhyun's nose from being broken. 

The lunch room went silent. Before Minseok could grab Baekhyun, who was sobbing "He hit me! He actually _hit me_! I'm _bleeding_!" in Lu Han's arms, Chanyeol grabbed Minseok and carried him out of the lunch room before teachers could move in.


	4. Teenage Tom Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol really-really likes Yixing.

"So," Minseok drawled conversationally as he settled on the linoleum beside Chanyeol. "Yixing, huh?"

"Where?"

"Down, boy. I'm talking, here. Your boy's off at practice."

"He's not 'my boy,'" Chanyeol mumbled, slouching against the wall again. There was a bit of a flush to his cheeks that hadn't been there before.

"Chanyeol. You let him play your guitar. Twice."

Chanyeol plucked said guitar absently, feigning tuning it.

"I've touched your dick more than I touched your guitar."

"That was one time!"

" _Exactly_! And Yixing's more than touched your guitar AT LEAST twice." Minseok lowered his voice, tone accusing. "I've seen you sneaking around with him, you horny tom cat."

Chanyeol's ears burned red. He chose to pretend to not have heard Minseok, although judging by the twitching of his lips as he tried to fight off his smile and the light flick of his fingers across the guitar strings, he heard and whole-heartedly affirmed his friend's observations.


	5. They Start So Young. . .

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Chanyeol can’t take a hint. Points for persistence.

When Minseok next saw Chanyeol, the boy sported a bright pink hand mark on his cheek. "Did you deserve it, this time?"

"I see so much of myself in them," Chanyeol sighed wistfully, stroking over his flaming cheek softly. "So young and unaware."

Minseok snorted. "You practically came out of the womb looking for cock. You were never 'unaware.'" 

Chanyeol hummed and took Minseok's hand and gently pressed the cold fingers to his stinging face.


	6. My Best Friend's Hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween is coming, and Lu Han needs an appropriate costume.

Halloween presented another challenge for Lu Han, a plastic-in-training. He politely declined the shopping invitation by Baekhyun, giving the excuse of needing his parents' permission to go to a party, otherwise he'd be grounded and his life made a living hell.

They bought it, but that weekend found Lu Han at a costume shop with Minseok and Chanyeol in tow. 

"Do you have any ideas?" Minseok asked as he browsed plastic weapons.

"Not in the slightest. . ." Lu Han and flipped through hanging costumes. "I've never been to a costume party."

"Well," Chanyeol reappeared from the aisle of fake body parts, "let us give you a hand." He presented Lu Han with a dismembered hand, rubber wrist red with moulded latex blood.

Lu Han snorted but accepted the hand with a polite bow Chanyeol mirrored. "Hey, are you guys coming, too?"

"Of course."

"We're never invited, but we always show up at Kyungsoo's parties. His dad loves me."

"I think you love him more than he loves you."

Chanyeol shrugged. His eyes brightened, looking over Minseok's head, and he made a beeline for the back of the store. He snatched a bag hanging on the wall and spun to face his friends. "Minseok."

"Chanyeol." 

"Minseok. . ." 

"No." 

"Please." 

"NO." 

"C'mon! We can get you little ears and a tail. . ." 

" _NO!_ "

Chanyeol dodged Minseok's attempt to snatch the latex outfit away from him and danced to Lu Han. "Lu Han! Lu Han. You agree with me, right?" 

"Say a word, and I WILL hurt you." Minseok glared at him. 

"It needs hooker boots, though," Channyeol added.

Lu Han nodded sagely, pressed against Chanyeol's side as if hoping he would protect him, merely shrugging when Minseok glared. In all honesty, Minseok had a very cute face. The large, slanted eyes were decidedly cat-like, and he had an overall impish appearance, just like a mischievous cat.

A mischievous, grumpy cat. "Fuck you both."

"Anytime," Chanyeol replied brightly.

Minseok elbowed him in the gut and grabbed the costume while the boy was wheezing. "You really are too gay to function. Why are you allowed out in society?" He replaced the bag on the wall.

Lu Han meandered a few feet away and pulled another bagged costume off the wall. "You've gotta be kidding me," he whispered incredulously. "Hey guys! I found a good one for me!" He held up the package so the front image showed. 

A leggy blonde cast a smouldering look over the shoulder of her red cropped jersey. Matching shorts--barely long enough to cover cheek--and red knee-high socks with black heels completed the look.

"Really, Lu Han?"

"Heyyyy. . ." Chanyeol obviously approved. He frowned at the photo critically. "You'll need different shoes, though. Those make no sense."

Lu Han looked at the costume and then Minseok, head tilted curiously. "What, Minseok; I don't have the legs for it?"

Minseok opened his mouth to reply, but Chanyeol's voice came out. "He didn't say that." 

Minseok swatted his arm.

"Pretty sure he has the highest opinion of your legs." Chanyeol laughed and dodged Minseok's fists, dashing down another aisle and putting clothes racks in-between them to slow the assault.

"Stop projecting your gay fantasies, you hypersexual homo!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title [is from Chanyeol to Minseok but will continue to have relevance] comes from a song by The Dollyrots: [My Best Friend's Hot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MVhb-dEdwY).
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [Soccer costume Lu Han found.](http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/31959a.jpg)  
> [Cat costume Chanyeol pulled for Minseok.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bl8947yCQAAZGa6.jpg)


	7. "God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes to Hell.

When Chanyeol and Minseok arrived, the party had been going on for a couple hours. They didn't mind crashing it fashionably late. 

Chanyeol eyed the others eagerly. "A lion, a tiger, and a panda bear. Oh my," he sighed. "It's like a smorgasbord."

"Buffet closes at one. Remember your curfew."

"Sure thing. . ." But he was already making his way to the lion. 

"Oh, look. A pussy." Minseok stiffened. Even softly spoken, that voice was like dropping ice down the back of his shirt. "Left your pet home for the night, did you?" Kyungsoo sneered. 

Evidently, he was a striped insect. A queen bee, which Minseok really wanted to comment on, judging by the tiara and wand-slash-staff he carried. Baekhyun, a fairy that dropped glitter with he slightest movement, and Jongdae, wearing lens-less glasses and tapping a ruler against his hand like a riding crop, stood to Kyungsoo's immediate left, just a step behind him. To his right, Yixing spaced out, in awe with all the costumes and touching his dark, feathery wings.

Minseok smiled and shrugged a shoulder, latex creaking. "Nah, I just let him off his leash. He's sniffing out some treats tonight. Careful. He's aggressive when hungry."

"I'm sure you'd know."

"Jealous?"

Kyungsoo couldn't respond without sounding like a petulant 4-year-old, so he settled for rolling his eyes and brushing passed, smacking Minseok with his wing.

"Bitch."

"Cuntwagon."

Baekhyun and Jongdae tittered behind Kyungsoo, mindless drones following their queen. Yixing paused long enough to smile at Minseok. "I like your costume; you look very cute."

"Thanks. . ." 'Cute' wasn't quite the idea, considering skin-tight latex and knee-high boots, but Yixing's attention was more on Minseok's face than body, appreciating the black lines across his cheeks that Chanyeol had insisted on.

Yixing nodded and slipped into the crowd. He was an airhead, but he was the easiest to get along with in the Plastics. He was probably only kept around because he sang and didn't mind the others' insufferable personalities.

The party was largely like all Kyungsoo's other parties. Lots of loud music, loud conversations, and even louder personalities, particularly when the red plastic cups were set up in the kitchen.

Minseok caught sight of Chanyeol every once in a while, chatting up unsuspecting freshmen.

Speaking of freshmen, Jongin had Lu Han trapped in a corner, hovering over him as if to block out all sight of the hundred-plus potential spectators. Lu Han looked content enough fiddling with his soccer ball but smiling brightly at whatever the dancer--appropriately dressed as a Chippendale--was saying.

He made his way outside, where people still took up every inch of space around the in-ground swimming pool. That delicate sense of personal danger didn't start shrieking until he felt something hit the back of his shoulders, and he pitched forward.

The water was frigid. Night time in October does that. Minseok broke the surface with a spluttering gasp and immediately coughed on the chlorine water. Safely on dry land, the others laughed or groaned in sympathy, but no one offered to help him out, and while his costume didn't allow much movement even dry, it was near impossible to move when wet. Which was odd, since it was practically a scuba suit. He had to swim until he could reach the bottom of the pool and climb up the steps.

A red and white soccer ball touched the edge of the steps innocently.

"So it's true. Cats really don't like the water." Bee, fairy, and questionable educator all smirked at him.

Minseok shivered in the cool air, but his body was on fire. He shook his hair from his face--the eared headband was gone--and stared Kyungsoo right in the face. "Better be careful, queenie."

He stalked passed the wide-eyed not-so-innocent and accidentally lost his balance, slipping on water that conveniently dripped off him and bumping his bony shoulder into what little was there of Kyungsoo's. The grand tiara slipped from around the pom-pomed antannae and hit the ground with a bounce. Minseok recovered his balance and caught the tiara. With his boot. 

It crunched.

"Bees die after they sting."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from Robin Williams' A Night at the Met (1986): “See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.”
> 
> Costume influences for [Kyungsoo](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjBqCupCIAEM9L2.jpg:large), [Jongdae](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjBmpx3CEAA8YnQ.jpg), and [Baekhyun](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjBmkX1CQAAFLjJ.jpg)


	8. Socialising Sucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least Chanyeol had a good time.

An entire hour before his curfew, Chanyeol slunk home. He had accumulated a few trophies from the night, bits of costume that hung off his hastily re-tied piggy tails or around his neck or coiled around his wrist as a sort of badge count.

He felt too tired to shower before crawling into bed, so he stripped out of the shreds he called a costume and tugged on cotton pyjama bottoms, pulled the elastic bands from his hair and ruffled it a bit, settled his hard-earned prizes with the others he accumulated throughout his high school career, and finally realised that there was a lump in his bed. He actually put his clothes away that morning, so the lump could only be Minseok, unless his parents decided to surprise him with a dog. He pulled back the covers and exposed a pale back beneath a shirt ridden up from burrowing in the blankets.

It was Minseok.

"Hey," Chanyeol greeted softly. He scooted to lie around his friend, whose habit was to claim the middle of the bed. His nose wrinkled. "Why do you smell like a pool?"

"Lu Han pushed me in at the party."

"What?!" Chanyeol sat up, staring at the back of Minseok's head with wide eyes. "Why?"

"Because he's plastic. The plan worked too well, Chanyeol. He's really turned plastic." Minseok didn't cry, but he sounded like he wanted to, which made Chanyeol want to cry, and he felt comfortable enough with himself and with Minseok to allow himself to indulge in his sympathetic tears as he hugged his friend to sleep.


	9. Stupid, Sexy Chanyeol (*Very Stupid)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol has men’s denial as a safety net.

"Chanyeol, you were a slave, not a prostitute. Look at all of these. . ." Minseok squinted at his friend's 'trophies' from the previous night. He was nervous about touching some of them.

Chanyeol ducked his head as he shimmied into a hoodie. From the depths of layered cotton, Minseok barely understood "Don't be mad just because--" his head popped up "--you haven't gotten laid since, like, sophomore year."

"I'm not mad. I'm concerned," he paused, eyeing a sequined elastic band, "and vaguely disgusted."

"Slut and proud, my friend. No worries," he added with a kind hand on Minseok's shoulder, "everything was safe and consensual."

"And most of them will deny anything happened, I'm sure."

Chanyeol nodded. "Exactly."


	10. It's Their Job to Worry, and It Doesn't Pay Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Han tells his parents about the problems with Kyungsoo and in school.

Lu Han made the mistake of moping after the party, which resulted in his parents launching an investigation and interrogating him as to why he was so unhappy. It was easy to distract one or the other when they were alone, but together, they were an unstoppable, incredibly nosy force.

So Lu Han gave an abridged version of The Plastic Problem.

"They seemed very courteous when we met them at the recital."

Lu Han snorted into his cereal. "Yeah. They always apologise after kicking you."

"If you feel like this, why are you friends with them?"

"It's a long story," the boy replied, hoping his parents would drop it. Unfortunately, parents have a thing where no matter what dismissal they're given, they persist until they get the answer they want. If roles were reversed, the kid would just get grounded and the subject dropped. 

Life just wasn't fair.

"It's Sunday morning." Jinki grabbed Jonghyun's thigh under the table. "We're not going anywhere." He squeezed his husband's leg when he threw a pained look, but Jonghyun sighed and settled back in his chair.

After some moments of silence, Lu Han dropped his spoon in the empty bowl and dropped his cheek to his hand, elbow on the table. "There are only two things I dislike about Kyungsoo: his faces."

Jonghyun snorted; Jinki pinched his thigh.

"He can be the nicest guy when it benefits him. Simply turning around, and it's like his brain re-calibrates to prick mode. The whole group--except Yixing. He's pretty nice, but I don't think he's all there. He seems to be lost in thought a lot, and it's unfamiliar territory.--they spread rumours and gossip about EVERYONE. Teachers and staff, students, celebrities. . . Yeah, I know, talk is cheap, but so are they." He squashed the memory of Jongin and Kyungsoo and looked at his parents through his bangs.

Jinki spoke first. "I still don't understand. Why are you hanging out with these people if you don't like them?"

"It. . . It was all just a joke at first. A couple friends have known Kyungsoo and the others since elementary school, and they really want him to be taught a lesson or just to know how they feel. Since I was new, they didn't know me. I could get into any circle I wanted."

"You've been spying on them?!"

"No! Yes? I don't even know anymore!" Lu Han's hands flew in the air helplessly. "I had to change my hair and how I dress and how I talk, and it got a lot of attention, but it got bad pretty quick. Ever since that Halloween party, I've been COMPLETELY miserable, but I don't know how to get out of it. The only real friends I had hate me, now, and the plastics only like me because I sing and look good, but Kyungsoo has it out for me, because his ex supposedly likes me, but he'd been giving Kyungsoo a pretty thorough tonsil examination last I saw them." That memory popped right back up, resisting being squashed again. It still hurt, and Lu Han didn't know whom he disliked more for hurting him.

Jinki and Jonghyun sat looking rather shell-shocked. This was a boys' school. They could only imagine the stress and angst in a girls' school. They both had attended co-ed high schools and did not experience half the drama their son was relating.

"I'll deal with it. Don't worry." He stood to put his dishes in the sink.

As he left the kitchen, Jonghyun called after him "We're your parents; it's our job to worry."

Lu Han didn't know if that made him feel better or worse.


	11. "It's just a word. One word against a thousand actions.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Han really just wants to apologise, but Minseok won’t let him.

The day could not get any worse. The week could not possibly get any worse. The month, year, even DECADE could not--by any stretch of the imagination--get any worse than it was that morning.

Lu Han watched from behind a pillar as Minseok opened his locker, took stock of the tulips stuffed inside, and slammed the door shut. Metallic shudders could be heard down the line of lockers. 

When Chanyeol's locker showed the same floral fate, the boy didn't even blink, frowning at the flowers, as if it was they that offended and hurt him, and left them presumably for Chanyeol to sneeze and sniffle over. After all, why should he be the only one to suffer?

And Minseok wasn't the only one to ignore Lu Han.

After Kyungsoo took a dive off the stage, the entire school was silent before him but alive in whispers at his back. It was maddening. 

He tried talking to Minseok during class, but Chanyeol had taken on the role of talking parrot.

"C'mon, Minseok, you can't ignore me forever."

"No, but he can until graduation, then 'Bye bye plastic bitch!'"

"Chanyeol. . ."

The puppy-turned-parrot-boy frowned at Lu Han for a few more seconds for good measure, then turned around in his seat.

Lu Han closed his arms on the desktop, and stared at the back of Minseok's head, neck, and back, simply taking in the little details and willing the boy to acknowledge him somehow.

He didn't, though. He left for lunch immediately after class ended with his personal guard dog back on duty, walking obediently and faithfully at his heel.

Lu Han couldn't recall a single thing from class except the stony expression on Minseok's face that he caught a mere glimpse of. The weight of it settled in his gut and stayed there well after school let out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from a quote from Sarah Ockler's _Bittersweet_ : “Would 'sorry' have made any difference? Does it ever? It's just a word. One word against a thousand actions.”


	12. "If you can find even one person you really like, you're lucky."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Han knows who his friends are but still makes poor decisions.

Minseok scoffed. "You wanted to become plastic, and you DID."

"I did it because of YOUR little grade school vendetta!"

"I never forced you to do anything; it was just a joke!" Minseok crossed his arms over his chest. "But you ran with it down to the endzone and out of the stadium." 

Chanyeol whistled and shaded his eyes with his hand, mimicking a spectator watching a spectacular play. Dropping his hand, he looked guarded and vaguely sick [disappointed, even], an expression Lu Han recognised from their discussions about Kyungsoo and the Plastics. Chanyeol didn't like them because they hurt Minseok. Now, he didn't like Lu Han, because he did the same thing, only much worse. "You're like a dildo, man. Cold and filled with gross PCP toxins that mess up your insides."

". . .That's BPA, Chanyeol."

"Whatever! It's still gross!" he thrust a finger in Lu Han's direction. "You're gross."

Minseok lightly smacked his arm with the back of his hand, quietly calling him off. "You're wasting all your hot air, Chanyeol. . . Congratulations, Lu Han: You're Plastic. Cold, hard plastic. Who'd've thought all it took was a change of clothes and some slutty guy's attention?"

"Minseok, that's not what--"

"I really don't care what you do or don't think. I have no time for plastic people and their synthetic, fake feelings."

He tugged Chanyeol's sleeve. "Let's go home. I feel like noodles." He didn't look at Lu Han. It was as if he wasn't there at all. 

"You always feel like noodles," Chanyeol replied, feeling up Minseok's bicep as they walked. "You're too skinny."

"Like you're one to talk; you're a talking fishbone!"

Lu Han watched his [ex?] friends banter and amble away, apparently wholly intent on ignoring his existence. And it hurt. If he hadn't been standing in front of the school, he probably would have cried until he threw up, which was a new feeling becoming rapidly more familiar.

"Hey."

Lu Han looked over his shoulder at Yixing, standing a polite couple of feet away.

"You coming with us?"

"Uh. . ." Minseok and Chanyeol were waiting at the bus stop. He could still catch up to them and apologise [again].

A car horn honked.

Jongdae sat on the door of Kyungsoo's car, hanging out of the window and drumming his hands on the roof. "C'mon, losers! We're going shopping!"

Lu Han glanced back at Yixing, who's smile hadn't changed, and shrugged. "Yeah; I'm coming." He followed Yixing and climbed into the back seat beside him.

Kyungsoo glared into his rearview and slammed the car into drive. "Buckle up, bitches. My dad won't pay for another ticket." As they peeled out of the parking lot, Lu Han was pretty sure any traffic tickets Kyungsoo garnered would come from speeding and not a lack of seat belts.

They sped passed the bus stop, hitting a convenient puddle at 72 kmh and washing the side of the glass partition with brown water and leaves. They were gone before anyone waiting there could yell their fury, but Lu Han was sure he saw someone tall raise both middle fingers in a quiet salute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from a quote from Bill Watterson's _The Complete Calvin and Hobbes_ : “I wish I had more friends, but people are such jerks. If you can just get most people to leave you alone, you're doing good. If you can find even one person you really like, you're lucky. And if that person can also stand you, you're really lucky.”


	13. "Forgive him; he's not from around here."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Han meets the Plastics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to reiterate: This is not written in order. This part should be way at the beginning. Or, you know, you could think of it as a flashback.

"New kid!"

Lu Han turned, evidently the only 'new kid.'

A quartet--Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Baekhyun, and a spacey-looking kid Lu Han didn't know--claimed an entire table. Kyungsoo's elbow was on the tabletop, hand raised with his fingers pulling in and out from his palm in a grabby-handed wave. "Come sit with us."

Minseok and Chanyeol exchanged curious looks behind Lu Han, watching and waiting for the catch. It never came; Kyungsoo simply waited for Lu Han to obey.

With a smile of apology over his shoulder, the Chinese student approached the Plastics' table and sat between Baekhyun and Jongdae. 

Baekhyun started conversation first. "How was your first official day?"

"Pretty good. The classes don't seem difficult at all. I was thinking of trying out for the soccer team, too." He took a bit of his chicken sandwich.

To his left, Jongdae made a face. "God, please don't."

"They're a bunch of meat-heads," Baekhyun added with an unimpressed half-frown of twisted lips.

Kyungsoo leaned forward, and both Jongdae and Baekhyun fell silent. "We have open auditions for contemporary choir all this week." He smiled. "You should try out."

"Well, I. . . I do sing, a little. My parents are both really musical."

"Great! We can hang out after that, then, too."

He had to clear it with his parents, but he didn't want to seem like a flake to his new friends right off the bat. "Yeah, okay."

The unknown fourth boy blinked, as if just waking up, and turned to Kyungsoo. "I have dance after school. They changed schedule."

"Boo, you whore."

Whether that was an unconventional petname or actual insult, it didn't seem to ruffle the boy at all. He accepted the affectionate name calling and looked to Lu Han, eyebrows raised with surprise.

Lu Han hastily bowed his head. "Hello, I'm Lu Han. I just moved here from China."

One blink.

Two.

Recognition.

"If you're from China. . . why do you know Korean?"

Wow. Lu Han didn't know how to answer that.

The rest of the table looked pained but tolerant. Kyungsoo fought to keep a patient, kind smile on his face as he faced the confused boy.

"Yixing, YOU'RE from China and speak Korean."

"Oh, yeah. . ."

"Zhang Yixing. His Korean is still a bit iffy, so if he looks glazed, just speak slower or ignore him." The Plastic Prince pulled out his cell phone and ignored the rest of the group.

A nervous nod. "Okay. . ." Lu Han really wished he'd sat with Minseok and Chanyeol.

Baekhyun lowered his voice and sat forward, looking up through his lashes in a partly scandalised and partly conspiratory way, and chided "Oh my God, Yixing. . . You can't just ask someone why they speak a language."

"Sometimes, I wonder why he speaks at all," Jongdae murmured.

Yixing cocked his head to the side like a puppy contemplating human commands. He had ear buds in his ears that Lu Han didn't notice before, but they weren't plugged into anything.

Lu Han offered a nervous grin and ate his lunch in silence, although his appetite was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That image thing was put together by me using my friend's very inspiring tweets, which started this whole thing.


	14. He had it coming; he only had himself to blame.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Han confronts Kyungsoo.

The party had started out okay and followed Freytag's dramatic structure. So far, Lu Han's not entirely sure if he's still trekking up along the rising action, has reached the climax, or is working his way to the conclusion, because nothing is making any goddamn sense.

Kyungsoo's a back-stabbing slut. Lu Han knows this, but he had thought that maybe--just maybe, through the haze of entrapping lust and deep beneath the caked on products and designer clothes--Kyungsoo was actually an okay guy. Seeing him trying to perform a tonsillectomy on Jongin with nothing but his tongue kind of proved otherwise.

And what excuse could there possibly be? Lu Han's a positive thinker. Maybe Kyungsoo was making sure Jongin was a suitable fit and taste for Lu Han. Perhaps he came from a culture that said goodbye with actions more than words. Could be that seeing Jongin in tear-away pants chased away all reason, which Lu Han could honestly understand, but no.

No. Just ... No.

Do Kyungsoo was a dick. A walking dick with a dick for a brain.

A little dick in a big way.

And now, for whatever reason, neither Minseok nor Chanyeol would talk to him. They won't even LOOK at him, and Lu Han has no idea what's wrong. If his instincts are accurate, Kyungsoo's behind it. Or his lackeys. Not Yixing; Yixing's too nice and was sitting with Lu Han backstage while waiting for practice to start.

There's a hush in conversation but shiver of whispers when Kyungsoo, flanked by Baekhyun and Jongdae, make their grand entrance from the auditorium doors rather than stage doors. 

Something churned in Lu Han's gut, and he stood before Yixing could grab him.

" _You_!" He thrust out his arm, pointer finger aimed dangerously at Kyungsoo's nose. "You _miserable_ little bitch!"

Cool as a cucumber--and wearing a shirt the same shade of green, wow; embarrassment, much?--the little queen stood a safe distance away and calmly asked, "What is it, Lu Han. Practice is starting soon."

"You _knew_." Figurative foot stomp. "You **_knew_** I liked him, so why did you do that? I'll tell you why: Because you are a fucking miserable child who can't stand when you don't have everyone's attention. you are a _literal_ attention whore, even with your feet on the floor."

"Lu Han, what is your problem?" Jongdae snapped his gum in concern.

There was a strange, almost dangerous look in Kyungsoo's wide eyes. It was like a challenge, egging Lu Han on. "He's just upset he couldn't keep a guy's attention."

How could anyone keep anyone's attention when the anyone in person was Kim Jongin, who had been pounced on and devoured by the other anyone standing right before Lu Han: Do Kyungsoo? He was an impossible anyone to ignore. Moreso when he had you by the esophagus.

Lu Han's simply pissed off. He knew better; he knows he knew better than to trust Kyungsoo. Chanyeol and Minseok never had anything good to say, but Lu Han had fallen into the trap of blind faith.

Fist at his side, he stalked towards Kyungsoo with an arm raised to ... do something. Grab him by a teeny shoulder and throw him down,maybe. He wasn't exactly sure what, but as he approached, Kyungsoo retreated. 

There's only so far to go before the stage ended, and Real Life is nothing like cartoons. Kyungsoo is far from Sylvester or Wile E. Coyote--if he was a cartoon character, he'd be that villainous cat who tricks all the mice only to eventually get overthrown and shaved in the end, and Lu Han was tired of his catty tyranny--he didn't hang in midair for a second or two before plummeting to a dusty death-in-Real-Life. 

At the short shout and crash, everyone looked to see Kyungsoo fall off the stage and into the open orchestra pit. Lu Han stood, frozen, with his arm extended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title comes from Chicago's [Cell Block Tango](www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA6R1DMb-Z8).


	15. "No one will challenge you to your face or give you a chance to explain yourself."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumours spread fast.

"Did you hear? Lu Han pushed Kyungsoo off the stage."

"It's about time someone did."

"I heard he was going to be suspended, but Baekhyun and Jongdae vouched for Lu Han."

"So what happened to Kyungsoo?"

"No one knows, yet. He's not in school."

The weekend gave the rumor mill time to process what the music kids reported and provide explanations ranging from the truth ("Yeah, Lu Han was super pissed, but Kyungsoo backed his own ass off the stage. Fucking moron.") to obscene rumour ("Didn't someone say he disappeared during the party? I heard something about him and Kyungsoo's dad..." "His dad's hot, at least.") to highly unlikely ("Aliens, man. I saw this little green man tie Kyungsoo's laces together." "He was wearing slip-ons. I know; I found his shoe after paramedics carted him off." "Naw, man...aliens.").

Lu Han was given week long lunchtime detention with the school's counselor. He spent a lot of time staring at Lu Han, who spent a lot of time counting the holes in the drop ceiling and trying not to spill his lunch all over his lap each time the counselor's chair squeaked.

Minseok and Chanyeol said nothing. To Lu Han, anyway. Chanyeol managed to pull Minseok away from a couple of people, slapping a hand over his shrieks of "You barely even _knew_ him. How mad can you be, honestly? He slept in _my **bed**_. You _can't_ be as mad as me." and "You can't be _as pissed at him as I am_. Shut. Up. Only I can call him a dickface!" and other, more colorful, phrases.

To Chanyeol, Minseok sulked "He slept in my bed, _and_ he stole my clothes. Sometimes while I was wearing them, so they can all just piss off." and Chanyeol understood. Minseok wasn't pissed so much as sad. 

Because he really really liked Lu Han. 

But Heaven forbid he ever said anything about it. Minseok was many things, a man of great strength--physical, mental, and emotional. Chanyeol wished he'd mush out a bit and stop ignoring his own feelings. It was embarrassing and hurt to watch. Sometimes, he wished he carried a mirror with him to show his friend the exact expression he wore whenever he saw Lu Han, but Chanyeol looked perfect throughout the day and felt no need to be repeatedly dazzled by his own natural beauty. 

Of course, because Chanyeol knew this, he actually _was_ pissed off. Lu Han hurt his best friend. That was unforgivable. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title comes from Ravished, by Amanda Quick: _“When you are rich and powerful, no one will challenge you to your face or give you a chance to explain yourself. All the whispers are behind your back. You are left with no means of clearing your own name. And after a while you realize there is no point in even attempting to do so. No one wants the truth. All anyone wants is the chance to add more fuel to the fires of gossip. The whispers become so loud that sometimes you think you will drown in them.”_


	16. Vent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seems like everything but Yixing changes.

Things change. Kyungsoo's reappearance at school wearing a walking cast and holding his arm in a sling, dressed in comfy, but stylish, sweats revealed the truth to the school: Do Kyungsoo was nothing more extraordinary than any other human being.

Jongdae and Baekhyun sat with Lu Han at their table for lunch the day Kyungsoo returned, and they quietly told the former queen off with his own "rules."

"They're not even real, anyway. Whatever." No one knew where he went after that, but Lu Han rather hoped he holed himself up in the bathroom like he'd wanted to so many times as the whispers and rumours continued.

The one comfort came in the form of the dazed Yixing. He sat beside Lu Han, across from Baekyhun and Jongdae, who continued to gossip between themselves, but didn't say anything. It wasn't ignoring; it was just Yixing. It was nice.

Not even Yixing could tame the cafeteria commentary, though, and Lu Han left before the period was half over, just to find someplace quiet. He didn't even realise he was being followed until someone dropped something behind him, and he turned to see Yixing fumbling with the mess of his ear buds.

They ended up in the library. Few students were around, as usual. The librarian looked up, almost surprised people were actually coming in, but simply nodded a greeting and returned to his newspaper.

The back was dusty with lack of use, but neither boy minded and sat on the carpeting rather than hard chairs pushed into the tables. Yixing said nothing, Lu Han sighed, and Lu Han started talking.

He talked about moving to the area, about coming to an actual school, Chanyeol hitting on him the first day, meeting Minseok, learning about the cliques, learning about Kyungsoo, stress over projects, happiness over being accepted by his classmates and making friends, meeting Jongin, his crush; he talked about everything through the party to Kyungsoo's fall, his detention, and being ignored by his best friends.

Yixing sat quietly through it all. He may not have been paying attention, but he didn't fall asleep or interrupt and let Lu Han run his mouth until his lips felt numb.

Lu Han was 95% sure his next class has started by the time he's finished, but it's history with Minseok, and Lu Han was tired.

He began to pack his things, but Yixing stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Stay here."

"I have class."

"So do I."

It was convincing. Lu Han sat back down with his thigh brushing Yixing's. Neither made an attempt to move away; Yixing scooted down the wall a bit to lean his head on Lu Han's shoulder.

"I should've brought my guitar."

"We're in a library."

"Oh, yeah..."

Lu Han stayed in the back of the library with Yixing, where there were no plastics, Minseok, or Chanyeol, and simply breathed.


End file.
